Diary planning tips for Executive PAs
posted 17 Jan 23
As every Executive PA will testify, managing the big boss’s diary is certainly no picnic in the park!
In fact, according to a world-renowned expert on the matter, Adam Fidler – Executive Assistant Consultant and Founder of the of the Adam Fidler Academy, the complexity and unpredictability of some diaries can easily create full-time work for two PAs, whilst taking up 80 percent of each individual’s workload. In his blog, ‘Managing Difficult Diaries – A Flexible Approach’, he shares his insights on how you, our wonderful Executive PAs, can manage your boss’s diary in a creative, practical and no-nonsense manner.
Top diary planning tips for Executive PAs
A good diary manager needs to be decisive yet flexible. Adam states: “Flexibility in a diary is paramount as it allows staff access to the boss, and ensures what needs to be done gets done by avoiding barriers or ‘hold ups due to the unavailability of managers,”.
Of course, there will always be some meetings that cannot be rescheduled. For this reason, you need to continuously communicate with your boss to determine which meetings are movable, which can be delegated to someone else, and which ones you can send their apologies to.
Below are three top diary planning tips for Executive PAs:
1. Be creative with your boss's time
If your boss has a busy diary, and most senior executives do, you’ll need to be creative with their schedule. When a meeting comes in or a request for a meeting results in a clash in the diary, Adam recommends asking yourself the following questions:
Is a meeting necessary? Instead, can the decision be made by a quick telephone call, email between several parties, or even an unscheduled corridor conversation?
Does the boss need to attend this meeting? Can they send a delegate and receive a debrief or summary after the meeting, or have a copy of the meeting minutes?
Does the boss have to attend this meeting in person? If the answer to the above is yet, can they dial in (via teleconference or video conference) rather than attend in person?
Can the meeting be held at a more convenient time? For example, at a breakfast meeting or over lunch, or even a late afternoon meeting with refreshments provided.
Does the boss need to stay for the whole meeting? If they are just there to set the scene, can they attend just for the first 30 minutes, or perhaps just at the end of the meeting for the plenary or conclusions, decisions, and agreement of next steps?
2. Create a meetings folder
If you are new in your role or work for a boss with many different types of meetings to attend that occur frequently, then you should make a list (or print out the diary entry from Outlook) of the regular meetings that come up.
The meeting title is what you’ll remember the meetings by, so if you create a list of the meetings by meeting title or print out the Outlook entry and put in a folder (in alphabetical order), you can then take the whole list into your boss and ask them their priority order. You'll need to distinguish if any of these meetings:
- She/he must attend under any circumstances
- Those which they can send a delegate or proxy to if there is a clash
- Those meetings which they possibly don’t have to attend and you can send their apologies to if they aren’t free
- Those that they don’t want or need to attend
Once you've clearly determined whether it is priority or not, you'll be able to make a quick decision about how to manage that meeting once you recieve the invite or request.
3. Being a good diary manager is an art
Adam Fidler quotes: “Being a good diary manager means thinking outside the box, being creative with scheduling appointments, and knowing your boss’ key priorities to be able to make decisions on the diary. It also means having the trust and autonomy from your boss to be able to manage his or her diary as appropriate in order to get the job done.”
In short, although it may take a fair bit of work and juggling to get the diary in order, if you’re good at managing a diary, then the boss will respect you for it, and leave you to crack on.
About the Author
Adam Fidler is an International Executive Assistant Consultant who offers teaching, training and self-development for PAs, EAs and Business Support Managers. He is the author and trainer of two of the UK's most sought-after corporate Executive PA courses 'Get Ahead as an Executive PA’ and 'The Strategic Executive Assistant' which run regularly in London and Manchester. In January 2017, Adam launched his own training academy in Manchester, the Adam Fidler Academy, which offers high quality training for office professionals including the EA Diploma and formal qualifications for Assistants at Level 3 and Level 4.
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